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GAY TIMES. 



WAYS FOR BOYS 

1-" 



TO 



MAKE AND DO THINGS 



BY 



F T VANCE 

CHARLES M SKINNER 
THOMAS WILLIAMSON 
JOHN ROBINSON 



VIRGINIA SMITH 
CHARLES E TAYLOR 
C R TALBOT 
H E KING 




ILLUSTRATED 




BOSTON 
D LOTHROP COMPANY 

FRANKLIN AND HAWLEY STREETS 



\ 



, 2 <? / 

.W3 



Copyright, 1887, by 
D LOTHROP COMPANY. 



CONTENTS. 



I. Some comical Kites . 
F. T. Vance. 

II. Hints for young Pedestrians . 

Charles M. Skhiner, 

III. How TO make and pitch a Tent 
Thomas Williamsoit. 



IV. Tree Culture 

John Robinson, 

V. A Boy's Menagerie 

Virginia Smith, 

VI. How TO BUILD A SIMPLE BOAT 
Charles E. Taylor, 

VII. Skating 

C. R. Talbot, 

VIII. Home-made Snow-shoes 
H. E. King,, 



Page 
7 

22 

39 
46 
58 
78 

93 



WAYS FOR BOYS TO 
MAKE AND DO THINGS. 



L — SOME COMICAL KITES. 

UNCLE GEORGE, I wish you could come out 
in the shop and show Willie and me how 
to make that kite you were telling about last winter." 
It was a very kindly and venerable old gentle- 
man that was thus addressed by his nephew, a lad 
about fifteen years of age. 
" Well," said uncle George, " I 
am busy now, but Saturday 
morning I will try to be on 
hand, and I would like you to 
have all ready for me at least 
a dozen nice, clean barrel hoops, as straight- 
grained as possible; and ask your mother to 
make a pan of flour paste, and give you a bundle 
of old rags, for there is little better to make a 

7 




FIG. I. FRAME. 




8 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

really fine-looking kite-tail than rags of any kind." 
With this uncle George went off to his office where 
he seemed to be always writ- 
ing learned books. 

Saturday morning, when un- 
cle George appeared in the 
shop, he found awaiting him 

FIG. 2. LAUGHING BOY. ^^^ ^^jy j^j^ ^^^ tiephCWS, but 

a great pan of smoking hot flour paste, also 
a large bundle of all kinds of rags, a pair of 
shears, a sash brush, 
a ball of twine and a 
package of old news- 
papers j but what 
most attracted his at- 
tention was the enor- 
mous pile of barrel 
hoops. 

" I am glad to see 
so many good hoops," ^'^' 3- wild man kite, a. 
said he, "but we will have no use for those made 
of split saplings, because the bark on them would 
be difficult to cut, and they are heavier than those 




SOME COMICAL KITES. 9 

made of clear wood, while bark don't materially 
increase the hoop in strength.'^ Hereupon he took 
from under his arm a large roll of something, as 
well as a package from his coat pocket, and laid 
both on the table. 

He took first a straight-grained hoop and said 




FIG. 4. WILD MAN KITE, b. 

to his nephews, " If hoops were scarce I should 
very carefully try to split this into two, but as 
they are plenty, I will use a good sharp plane 
upon it to reduce it to the proper size, which will 
be generally not more than half the width of the 
original hoop. That done, you see T take two or 



10 WAYS TO TO THINGS. 

three tacks and drive them directly through the 
hoop ; then I give each one a tap on the point to 
rivet it." 

Next he opened the package he had taken from 
his pocket and took from it some copper wire, which 
he wound around the hoop on one side two or three 
times, and then stretched it directly across the 
hoop and cut it off, being careful to leave it long 
enough to twist around and fasten. Then he ran 
another piece in the same way across the hoop at 
right angles with the first wire. ^^This," said he, 
" will strengthen the hoop and support the paper 
against any strain it may encounter in the wind." 
{Fig. I.) 

Next he opened the long roll. *^ I think a sheet 
of this pink tissue paper is appropriate for this 
kite, which I call * Laughing Boy.' I will first 
mark out the size of the hoop upon it, and then 
cut the paper about an inch larger all around; 
this will give me plenty of room to fold and paste 
over the hoop ; and now that it is done, you 
can see the barrel hoop already resembles a 
kite. Now I might use some black ink, with 



SOME COMICAL KITES. 



II 



a camePs hair pencil to make the different 
markings that I mean to put on this blank 
rosy face, but we would find that both ink 
and water-colors are too transparent to be of 
any value in the distance — so I will cut out of 
this dark, opaque brown paper eyes, nose, and 
mouth; and I also cut \/ 

out of white tissue paper 
the eye-balls and a good 
set of teeth for the laugh- 
ing mouth {fig, 2). Of 
course it is necessary to 
cut away the pink im- 
mediately under where 
the white will come. If 
you would like to have 

, .^ , 1 iM M V FIG. ^. LISTING KITE-TAILS. 

your kite look like a wild ^ 

man (^fig, 3), you can do it in this manner : take 
three or four of your newspapers and cut them 
into zigzag strips, without being careful as to 
regularity, only leaving as a heading to your 
fringe a strip that is about the width of the hoop, 
for the purpose of pasting on the kite. This 




12 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 




furnishes him hair and whiskers, and you can give 
him a funny goatee by cutting the zigzags longer. 
You see that he now looks 
quite wild/' {Fig 4). 

*' And what do you think is 
the best way to make kite- 
tails?" asked Willie. 

" Well," answered uncle 
George, "if you can get some 
good strips of woollen listing, 
FIG. 6. iioop KITE, fj-oi^ a tailor's shop, you can 

PROPERLY HUNG 

make one out of that, and 
you can tie on the end a tassel formed of extra 
pieces, and if you find it too heavy, it is easy to 
take out listing enough to leave the kite perfectly 
balanced. But as I have only two short pieces of 
listing I will put them both on the same kite add- 
ing thereto a longer tail in the middle for oddity 
{fiS- S)- Now I will leave you to practice in mak- 
ing up three or four plain kites out of these hoops 
and this pink and yellow tissue paper." 

After dinner uncle George found that the boys 
had made no less than eight or ten kites, very neat 



SOME COMICAL KITES. 



13 



ones too. They were so very good indeed that he 
at once set about giving them instructions as to 
" hanging the kite '' — a very important point. 

*' The best way," said he, " to hang these hoop- 
kites is to turn the kite face down; then with 
a lead pencil make four plain marks on the hoop, 
each about midway between where the wires are 
tied; I then carefully stick my lead pencil through 
the tissue paper at these points, and turn the 
kite face up. Now I measure across the kite for 
the upper hanging string; and I add to that 
almost one half more for the lower hanging string; 
and then fasten the two strings together exactly in 
the middle ; afterwards I tie the two shorter ends, 
one in each of the upper 
holes and the longer ends 
at the lower holes. Now 
you see when I hold the 
kite up by the knot in the 
hangings, the hoop does 
not hang horizontally, but 
the tail end of the kite is some distance lower than 
the other end ; this is exactly what is wanted 




FIG. 7. WASHERWOMAN. 




14 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

(^fig^ 6). You need not follow these measurements 
strictly in practice, since if you want the kite to 
pull hard and catch a slight 
breeze, make the hangings 
of nearly equal length ; and 
if the wind seems too strong 
shorten the upper strings." 
" Now," continued he, 

FIG. 8. OWL KITE. 

" I will show you how I 
should manage with these other kites if I were a 
boy. I will begin with this bright yellow one. 
Let us transform it into a Washerwoman by putting 
upon her head a frilled cap ; you see that I make 
her hair out of opaque paper, and the frills of her 
cap out of white tissue paper which will flutter in 
the wind as a real cap would, and as the hair did 
on the wild man this morning (^fig, 7). Here is 
an owl which I cut out of opaque blue paper — you 
will perhaps say you have never yet seen a blue 
owl; I believe you — and I don't suppose that you 
ever saw a flat owl, like this either; but we won't 
mind trifles like these. You cannot tell the differ- 
ence when the kite comes against the sky. Paste 



SOME COMICAL KITES. IS 

over the eyes some white tissue paper, and cut out 
a piece of the colored tissue paper at the same 
place on the kite. Then cover the whole back of 
the owl with paste and stick it fast to the tissue 
paper (^fig. 8). In like manner I make this 
eagle {^fig, 9), and this duck {Jig. jo). So can 
you make whole flocks of bird-kites. You can 
also make others consisting of regular forms 
{Jig, 11), cut out of tissue paper and pasted 
together ; you can put papers of different color 
upon the various shapes ; only if you wish 
to produce the most brilliant effect you will 
paste together the different shades of blue and 
orange, purple and yellow or red and green ; 
these mingled with white or gray. You see that 
I try these three schemes of color in these three 
kites, although two of them I will put together 
as you see by bringing them beside one another 
and fastening them in two places by means of our 
flexible wire. I call these Twin Kites {Jig. 12); 
but that does not prevent your putting on them the 
most diverse subjects ; for instance, upon one you 
can make a dog eagerly chasing a cat, that will be 



i6 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 



running for life across the other. It is a good plan 
for those of you who find a difficulty in choosing 
good forms to draw upon these * mathematical 
kites,' (as I will call them for the sake of distinc- 
tion), to look at and copy the figures that are 
printed upon almost all oilcloth. For I notice 
that they are generally simple and can be easily 
made with no other drawing tools than a ruler and 
a pair of compasses. 

To hang these Twin Kites : In the first place 
take two strings measuring each one of them one 

half longer than the 
distance between a 
and b; tie the first 
string in a and ^ / the 
second string tie in 
c and d. Then meas- 
ure down each string 
one third of its dis- 
tance from the top; 
bring the two strings together accurately; then 
tie the flying string around firmly at this point (no 
slipped knot). You will now find your kite well 




FIG. 9. EAGLE KITE. 



SOME COMICAL KITES. I7 

hung if every point has been observed. Be sure 
and ascertain the fact that the hangings of the 
kite pull the same on each hanging. 

" I will now show you how I make another 
variety of this kite which I call the 'Jumbo Kite.' 
I still use the familiar hoop as a foundation, but I 
no longer paste paper over 
the whole kite-frame. 

" I merely cover the sur- 
face of the animal or bird 
represented with appropri- 
ate color and quality of 

T • 1 ^1 • 1 FIG. 10. DUCK KITE. 

paper. I copied this ele- 
phant from one of the pictorials, using a familiar 
method of enlarging a drawing. With care 
either of you could do quite as creditable a 
piece of work. You first divide the engraving 
into any number of perfect squares ; then, mark- 
ing out on paper the size of the barrel hoop, 
divide that into the same number of squares 
— of course they are much larger. Now whereas 
it might prove difficult for you to enlarge the 
drawing without this help, yet by making the 




i8 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 




squares on the engraving sufficiently small, you 
can readily make a good copy. It is simply neces- 
sary for you to draw 
into each large square 
of the kite the corre- 
sponding portion of 
the outline that ap- 
pears in the smaller 
squares on the en- 
graving. It will do 
no harm to number 
the squares in both the engraving and your draw- 
ing of the hoop. You notice that the squares on 
your hoop 
drawing are 
not all of 
them perfect- 
ly square^ for 
where they 
come to the 



FIG. II. COLOR KITE. 




FIG 12. TWIN KITES. 



circumference they are all bounded by curved 
lines. Never mind that, only be sure that all 
of the rest are perfectly square. After a few 



SOME COMICAL KITES. 



19 



trials I will warrant you to succeed to your own 
satisfaction, whether you have any natural talent 
for drawing or not. But to go on with my Jumbo 
Kite {^fig, 13). You take a piece of flexible wire, 
either copper, brass, or annealed iron wire, and 
going around the 
outline closely, 
and using a pair 
of bending pli- 
ers, you follow 
accurately every 
bend and curve 
and angle — and 
you have a wire 
elephant in out- 
line. Now, with some gray paper I cover my 
wire elephant, putting on him a red blanket with 
a blue belt, and marking in with black ink the 
ears, and tusk, and putting the line in between the 
legs. Then I fasten him firmly to the hoop with ex- 
tra wires running to the animal from every side of 
the hoop, taking advantage of course of those 
points where he comes in contact with the hoop to 




FIG. 13. THE JUMBO KITE. 



20 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

twist a wire firmly around there ; and after hang- 
ing and fastening a tail to it, the elephant will 
fly as well as any bird, and," continued uncle 
George, "if boys are constituted as they were 
once, the more singular the object that can be 
placed on a kite, the greater will be the fun. So 
if you choose you can imitate me in making a 
rabbit (^fig, 14), a camel, a lion, a whale or any 
other beast, flying bird or swimming fish. But 
there is one specialty that I want to tell you about 
— and that is how you can make Fourth of July 
Kites — kites that will explode a bunch of fire 
crackers while they are up in the air, or set off a pin 
wheel or a Roman candle. 
In the first place it is well to 
have a special kite — that is, 
one covered with sheeting in- 
stead of paper, because it is 
less inflammable, and it is a 

FIG. 14. RABBIT KITE. 

good plan to make the sheet- 
ing almost thoroughly fireproof by soaking it in 
strong alum water, and it is good to put up the 
kite with hempen twine, for generally the wind is 




SOME COMICAL KITES. 21 

Stronger in the night, and should the twine break 

the kite would be lost in the dark. You can 

choose any shape for your kite that you like — 

a common four-cornered kite is as good as any. 

Fix on its front some flexible wire, to which you 

will fasten your fireworks ; but you must have at 

the same time another wire fastened to the sticks 

of the kite in such a way that it will support a stick 

of punk that crosses the fuse of the fireworks 

at some point; or you may have a piece of safety 

fuse timed so that it will touch the fireworks off 

at a given time. It is a fine sight to see half a 

dozen of these Fourth of July Kites in the air at 

the same time shooting off their different kinds of 

pyrotechnics in the dark so mysteriously. You 

can also do what has often before been done; 

that is — fasten a conductor's lantern upon the 

tail of your kite ; for it is great fun for boys 

and their grown-up friends, too, to see the light 

constantly moving back and forth across the sky 

without ceasing." 



II.— HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 

IF I could inspire ten wide awake boys with a 
fondness for pedestrian exercise I should be 
quite satisfied to jot down some hints on walking 
tours suggested out of an experience of many excur- 
sions, aggregating several thousand miles of walk- 
ing. 

A self-reliant lad, of good constitution, should 
be able to get along by himself for a week or two, 
and to find his way through almost any part of the 
United States without other assistance than civil 
speech and a small map ; and if he is not a self- 
reliant lad I know of few things that will do more 
to develop his pluck, and cultivate a habit of think- 
ing and acting for himself, than walking. Mind, 
I do not mean walking about a sawdust ring with 
the object of scoring a higher number of miles 
than some other contestant ; that is a degradation 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 23 

of natural powers, and is not likely to benefit body 
or mind; for nerves and muscles are kept on a 
strain that often produces bad effects when the 
walk is over; and in plodding over dull ground or 
empty floors the thoughts are tied down to the 
work and the surroundings instead of being free to 
roam, as when the walker is in open air and in the 
midst of beautiful scenery. 

In the first place, you want at least a week for 
your trip. If you have more time to give you will 
be in better trim the longer you walk, as you should 
aim to increase your distance a little every day. 
Many people unaccustomed to long walks are ex- 
hausted by a ten-mile tramp; but by beginning, say 
with seven or eight miks, and increasing a mile or 
so daily, walkers become able to pace off forty 
miles a day and be none the worse for it. The 
object of a pedestrian trip is not, however, to ascer- 
tain how much or how fast you can walk, but to 
see the country, gain new experiences, and enjoy 
yourself. Of course, in order to do this you must 
attain a reasonable degree of speed and endurance, 
otherwise you will find walking a poky affair. To 



24 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

find yourself at night near the place you left in the 
morning is discouraging, for you will begin to con- 
sider life too short to see much without the assist- 
ance of horses and railroad trains. 

Lay out your route before you start, calculate 
your expenses, and supply yourself with money 
enough to meet them as well as to provide for con- 
tingencies. Arrange for the reception of letters 
at various points, allowing two days between the 
time of writing and of receiving for distances over 
one hundred and under five hundred miles from 
home. By planning your trip before starting, as 
you may with the aid of maps and guide books, 
you will know exactly what you are undertaking 
and will avoid mistakes and confusion. Be sure 
that you know where you are going and that you 
are posted as to the points of interest along the 
line of march. 

Do not cumber yourself with useless luggage. 
If you carry more than three or four pounds of 
"traps,'' you will be tempted to turn about and 
take them home before you have been more than 
two hours on your journey. If you intend to camp 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 25 

out every night you must be content to go heavily 
weighted and to put up with many discomforts. 
You will sleep cold, you will get wet, you will be 
obliged to carry a tent, hatchet, pan, pot, cup, 
knife, fork, spoon, and some provisions, and you 
will be inclined to doubt if the fun equals the 
trouble, unless you accompany a jolly party and 
have the whole summer before you. Here is my 
whole equipment for tours of any length ; it is all 
I took on a trip across the continent, and were I 
to visit Europe I should add nothing to it : 

( I ) A soft leather satchel, about ten by twelve 
inches, slung from the shoulder by a strap. It 
contains (2) a gossamer rubber overcoat, (3 ) a 
nightgown, (4) a collar, (5) a neck-tie, (6) a 
guide-book, or map, (7) postal cards, (8) comb, 
(9 ) toothbrush, ( 10) " telescope " cup; and room 
is still left for packing small minerals or photo- 
graphs of places that I visit. In my pockets I 
carry ( n ) a watch, ( 12 ) sketch book, ( 13 ) pen- 
cils, (14) knife, ( 15 ) diary, (16) toothpicks, ( 17 ) 
handkerchief, ( 18 ) money, ( 19 ) and a book for 
reading during bad weather and at inns in the 



26 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

evening. I also carry (20) a stout cane, which 
gets to be a companionable sort of thing, and may 
be of service as a weapon. It is worth carrying 
for the sense of protection you receive from it, if 
for no other reason. The rubber overcoat is in- 
dispensable in showery weather. The nightgown 
should be indispensable to everybody, for it is 
unhealthful and uncleanly to wear the same cloth- 
ing day and night. Even when compelled to sleep 
in barns — and there are worse beds than a hay- 
mow — I laid aside at night every vestige of cloth- 
ing worn during the day, allowing it to air and dry 
thoroughly until morning. It is a luxury to slip 
out of your dusty clothes, damp with perspiration, 
and pleasant to find them fresh and serviceable 
when you awake. Clear water is the best adjunct 
to a toothbrush in the care of the teeth. Soap and 
towels you find everywhere, so there is no need of 
taking them. By all means carry a note book, or 
diary, and make a daily jotting of your distances 
and adventures. Though you write but five or six 
lines a day, those little hints will serve in after 
years to strengthen memories of what will probably 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 27 

be classed among the happiest days of your life. 
So with the sketch book. The roughest and hasti- 
est of my sketches, though of interest to nobody 
but myself, calls up a hundred circumstances and 
puts me back among the hills in a twinkling. Be 
earnest in your sketching, and let your drawing, 
although but an outline, be as true as you can 
make it. My sketch book is carried in a large 
pocket inside my coat. 

Now as to clothes : It is plain that you should 
not set out upon a two-hundred-mile walk dressed 
in broadcloth, kid gloves and patent leathers. 
Take your every-day suit, see that all the pockets 
are sound and the buttons sewed on tightly. Be 
sure that your shoes are thick-soled, well oiled and 
broken in and, if you are going to climb mountains, 
tell the cobbler to put soft iron nails into the heels 
instead of hard iron or steel; for the latter become 
smooth and slippery, making 3^our footing unreliable 
on steep ledges. There is no need of suggesting 
that you may paddle about barefooted, now and 
then. As you are boys you will certainly do that 
before you have been a day from home ; but take 



28 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

smooth roads for it. Bathe your feet every night, 
and if they are a little tender put soap on your 
stockings. You will see from my inventory that I 
carry no stockings except those that I wear. It is 
more convenient to wear out the pair you start 
with, washing them now and then, than to carry 
extra ones. When they are no longer serviceable 
throw them away and buy new ones. You may 
buy them at country stores for fifteen cents. Wear 
a flannel shirt with gauze underclothing next to 
the skin. Let the shirt be one of those convenient 
arrangements with a rolling collar that you can 
turn down your neck on state occasions, placing 
over it a linen or paper collar, and a scarf. As 
the collar and tie conceal all traces of the shirt, 
nobody knows that you are not arrayed in the 
finest linen. How do I get my shirt washed ? In 
this way: my nightgown is arranged with collar 
buttons, and I conceal the front with the collar 
and scarf, wearing it in place of my shirt while the 
laundress is scrubbing the dust out of that gar- 
ment. Flannel shirts need washing but seldom 
where underclothing is worn, a good shaking often 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 29 

sufficing to get the dust out of them. The night- 
gown, collar, handkerchief and underclothing 
should be washed and ironed for you within eight 
hours, if you make the laundress understand that 
you can wait no longer for them. 

You will find it so difficult to organize a pedes- 
trian party that you may as well make up your 
mind at the outset to go alone. For a day or so 
you may feel the lack of company, but it will take 
only a short time to accustom yourself to it, and 
you will find great delight in the absolute liberty 
you will enjoy. I have never succeeded in finding 
a companion for a longer excursion than twenty- 
five miles. No matter what plans are made in 
advance, at the last moment one pedestrian finds 
himself up to his ears in business, another has a 
sore toe, and another has paid his tailor's bill and 
hasn't a dollar left. I have long given up hope 
of walking in company, but one is seldom lonely 
where nature is beautiful, and there is always 
enough to think about without talking. Even in 
seemingly well-assorted parties if one of the num- 
ber proves to be lazy, or sulky, or dissents from 



30 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

schemes in which the majority concur, or can not 
walk fast, or wishes to linger in uninteresting 
places for selfish reasons, or is always expressing 
dissatisfaction with the route, or complains loudly 
at the little privations of travel that should be sub- 
jects of merriment instead of melancholy, or has 
some hobby that he indulges, to loss of interest in 
his walk, or is vulgar or vicious in his talk or 
habits, the whole trip may be spoiled. There 
should be in a party the cheerfulness, delight in 
nature and singleness of purpose that you would 
feel alone, and it is difficult to find this, for wher- 
ever people are assembled together, differences of 
opinion arise. 

Supposing you have started upon your tramp. 
The sun shines, flowers and foliage sweeten the 
air, birds sing in the wood yonder, the brook 
bubbles its cooling music beside the road, the dis- 
tant hills are clear and blue. Very likely you 
have seen the landscape hundreds of times before, 
but it has a new charm now, for you are, perhaps 
for the first time in your life, absolutely free. 
Steal into some cornfield by the wayside and stand 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 3 1 

on your head for a few minutes to relieve the 
immense enthusiasm that this feeling is certain to 
awaken, and resume your walk. You have eaten 
a hearty breakfast, and your appetite is, no doubt, 
healthy enough to fill your landlords with some 
anxiety when you begin your depredations in their 
dining-rooms, but do not eat a big dinner at noon. 
If your means are limited you can not afford it, if 
your time is limited the hour you will spend at the 
table will be a heavy sacrifice, and if your stomach 
is heavily loaded you can not walk as blithely as 
you did before dinner. Take your heartiest meal 
later in the day. At noon, or thereabout, knock at 
some farmhouse door and ask for bread and milk. 
You will receive enough for three, your bill may 
reach fifteen cents, but it is more likely to be ten, 
and you will be in better trim to continue the walk 
than if you had been eating meat, vegetables and 
pie. I have often obtained lunches at farmhouses 
that were almost equal in variety and abundance 
to a regular dinner. Here is what a man in the 
Catskills once set before me, after apologizing 
for the emptiness of his pantry : cold meat, pre- 



32 WAYS to DO THINGS. 

served fruit, cake, bread, pot-cheese and fresh 
cider. Now guess the amount of his bill. Thir- 
teen cents ! Don't be bashful about asking for 
bread and milk, at least in any farmhouse of 
respectable size and appearance. It is the one 
thing sure to be found, it is nourishing, and though 
the charge for it, if one is made, is so low that you 
feel compunctions of conscience for not paying it 
twice, remember that money goes farther than in 
town, while the lunch costs your worthy host the 
merest trifle. For dessert, help yourself to fruit 
and berries from the wayside. If benighted, storm- 
bound, or astray, you will have little difficulty in 
getting the good farmer folk to give you a lodging 
over night, offering to pay them, of course, for 
their trouble. They will perplex you somewhat 
with their curiosity, but if you talk cheerfully and 
frankly they will like you and your stay will be 
pleasant. 

Unless you are well supplied with money do not 
stop over night in cities and large towns upon your 
route. Arrange your trip so that you can pass 
through them and put up at the tavern in a village 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 33 

beyond. Not in the suburbs, for there the hotels 
are wretched, but in some country settlement ; 
there the beds will be clean, the tables well-sup- 
plied, the charges will be moderate, and you will 
not be compelled to " dress up " to an alarming 
extent on account of the company you will meet. 
Always ascertain the amount of your bill in advance. 
If you are compelled to stop in a city it will be 
wiser, unless your stay is of several days, to engage 
rooms and pay for only such meals as you have, 
than to lodge in a pretentious hotel where you pay 
full day's board if you are there only two hours. 
Should you lose your way, or find yourself belated 
and compelled to spend the night in the open air, 
contrive some sort of covering to keep off the dew. 
A tree is better than nothing. Do not light a fire 
unless the night is cold, for it will attract bugs, 
moths and flies by hundreds ; but if you do light 
one, sleep with your feet towards it and make sure 
that nothing in the vicinity is likely to catch the 
flame. I doubt if your first night on the ground be 
passed in very sound sleep. You will better enjoy 
thinking and telling about your experience after- 



34 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

ward than undergoing it at the time. Mysterious 
murmurs will be heard in the branches, soft foot- 
falls and gliding noises will come from thickets, 
night birds, crickets, katydids and frogs will talk 
persistently, now and then you will start up pre- 
pared to affirm that you heard a whisper, you will 
wonder if there are snakes, skunks, weasels and 
rats in the vicinity, and it may be some hours 
before you realize that the queer noises are only 
produced by wind and harmless insects ; then your 
tired head will sink upon the grass, you will thrash 
about and partly wake at intervals, and will pres- 
ently sit up to rub your stiff elbows and discover 
that it is morning. Before lying down, remove all 
hard things except watch and money from your 
pockets, as they will press into your flesh when you 
lie upon them, and hurt you. Then turn up your 
coat collar and button your clothing well about you, 
for dew will fall and the night be chilly. If your 
hat or cap is too good to sleep in, tie your hand- 
kerchief about your head. Ease your feet by partly 
unlacing or unbuttoning your shoes, and be sure 
that your shirt is not tight about the neck. Use 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 35 

your satchel, or nightgown, as a pillow, your rub- 
ber overcoat as a blanket, a heap of grass or leaves 
as a mattress. You will rest more comfortably if 
you will make a hollow in the ground about three 
inches deep, for your shoulder to slip into, and 
another like it for the hip. I don't recommend 
sleeping out of doors "for fun.'' I have tried 
board floors, wagons and freight cars, and have 
found them, with a little dressing of weeds and 
grass, pleasanter beds than bare ground. 

As to a " stamping ground," all parts of the 
country oifer attractive pedestrian routes, though 
I should fancy that the plains and prairies might 
become monotonous to the walker. Among regions 
favorable for walking, I can, from experience, 
recommend the White and Green Mountains, Cat- 
skills, the Lehigh region, Hudson, Connecticut, 
Housatonic, Delaware, Potomac and Shenandoah 
valleys, the New England coast from Cape Cod to 
Portland, Western New York and Niagara, and 
the regions about Montreal and Quebec. These 
districts are penetrated by railroads and the tele- 
graph, so that in case of accident, sickness, or loss 



^6 WAYS TO 1)0 THINCS. 

of funds, you could return or communicate with 
home at once. 

The walker may pleasantly vary his route by 
returning over different roads from those he set 
forth upon. Here is a sample route, taken from 
one of my summer tramps : Boston to Alton Bay, 
N. H., across Lake Winnepeseogee by steamer, 
Centre Harbor, Campton, Pemigewasset valley, 
the Pool, Basin, Flume, Franconia Notch, Profile, 
Echo Lake, Franconia, Bethlehem, Fabyan's, Mt. 
Deception, Mt. Washington, Crawford bridle path 
over the Presidential Range to the Crawford House, 
White Mountain Notch, Bartlett, Glen road and 
return. Iron Mountain, North Conway, Lake Ossip- 
pee, Portland, Salem, Lynn and Boston. It is 
sometimes practicable to establish one's headquar- 
ters in the centre of an interesting region, striking 
out in various directions from that point. Thus, 
in the Catskills, the village of Hunter affords a con- 
venient point of departure for Hunter Mountain, 
Stony Clove, Kaaterskill Clove, Plattekill Clove, 
South and North Mountains, Cairo, Windham, 
Lexington and Grand Gorge. 



HINTS FOR YOUNG PEDESTRIANS. 37 

The young traveller who has the entire summer 
before him, and a purse long enough to attempt 
such an undertaking safely, may adapt the follow- 
ing route to his liking by cutting from or adding to 
the list of interesting points, going over some por- 
tions of the country by rail, and perhaps accepting 
the numerous invitations to ride that farmers, 
travelling from town to town, extend to people they 
overtake upon the road. Starting up the Hudson 
River from New York visit Sunnyside, the home 
of Irving; Tarrytown and its quaint Dutch church; 
Sing Sing and the State prison there ; the military 
school and old forts at West Point ; Storm King, 
highest of the Hudson hills ; Newburg, and Wash- 
ington's headquarters ; Saugerties, from which 
point a detour can be made, embracing some of 
the finest portions of the Catskills, returning to the 
Hudson River at Catskill village ; Albany and the 
capitol : Troy ; Saratoga and its famous springs ; 
Glen's Falls ; Fort William Henry ; down Lake 
George by steamer ; Ticonderoga and its historic 
ruins ; down Lake Champlain by steamer, stopping 
at Port Henry or Essex for a brief run into the 



38 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

Adirondack region ; Port Kent and Au Sable 
Chasm V Burlington; up the Winooski, ascending 
Camel's Hump and stopping at Montpelier ; Wells 
River; Woodstock, N. H., from which point make 
a tour of the White Mountains similar to that just 
outlined; Boston, or Connecticut. valley, to New 
York. There ! Some of the grandest and most 
beautiful scenery in the world is yours to enjoy 
upon this trip. Or, if that programme is not suffi- 
ciently ambitious, you may omit the walk across 
Vermont and extend your trip from Port Kent to 
Montreal and Quebec, descending into the White 
Mountain region from the North. 

The interest of your walk will be much increased 
if you will glance through the history of the region 
you intend to explore ; or, if you have a scientific 
turn you might post yourself on the geology, min- 
eralogy or botany of the country. 



III. — HOW TO MAKE AND PITCH A TENT. 



FIRST, to familiarize yourself with your pro- 
posed task, make a sketch of your intended 
tent (^fig, A ), which should be six feet high and 
cover a square on the ground six feet each way. 




FIB A 

Such a tent will require, of yard-wide cotton 

thirteen yards ; two yards for the front, two for the 

back, and nine for the main cover. The cost, if 

made of unbleached cotton, will be about $1.30. 

The permanent poles (those to be used near 
39 



40 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 




home, or wherever transportation can be had) 

should be of sawn stuff. The two uprights should 

be six feet nine inches high, sharpened at the foot 
and cut off square at the top 
with holes bored in them 
large enough to hold the 
good-sized nails which will 
FIBS ^^^^ P^^^ through holes in 

the ridgepole as shown rafig* B, 
When your camping-ground is 

far from home, and you have no 

transportation, poles can be cut in 

the woods, roughly trimmed, leav- 
ing short pieces of the branches 

for hanging things on, fewer being 

left on the pole in the doorway 

than on the one at the back i^fig, 

C). 
Tent-pegs ought to be cut in 

the woods (J^g. D), the main stem 

sharpened and the branch cut IW rii^ i^ 

short, yet left long enough to 

hold the loop of the tent-cord. 



HOW TO MAKE AND PITCH A TENT. 



41 



The top should be square, to be hammered easily. 
Take two yards of cotton and cut the piece 
diagonally, as inj^g. E. Now 
" wide-awake " boys know 
that this diagonal, being the 
hypothenuse (or slant line) 
of a right-angled triangle with 
a base one yard and an alti- 
tude two yards, is equal to 
2.23 yards, nearly two and 
one fourth yards long. These 
two pieces will make the door of your tent. In 
like manner two yards more, similarly cut, will 
make the back of the tent. Cut the remaining 





FIB E 



nine yards into two pieces and sew them together 
so as to make them one piece two yards wide and 



42 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 



four and one half yards long. Mark the centre 
of each side of this piece c c^ as in^^. F. 

-|5 Sew the pieces for 






the back and front 
^ to the large piece, 



^X^ 



^ 



■ 4^^yJJf^ 









FJQ F 

the longest sides of the triangle fitting the lines 
marked c d, as in Jig, G. The line from ^ to a is 




to be sewed up for the back, and a similar line 
left open for the door. 



HOW TO MAKE AND PITCH A TENT. 



43 



Lay the ridgepole on the ground. Drive a stout 
pin like this (^fig, ZT.) in the ground at each end of 
the pole opposite the nail-holes. Loosen 
these pegs by slight blows of a hammer 
and pull them up. 

Set your uprights firmly in these holes. 
Put your ridgepole across from top to 
top ; fasten with nails passed through 
the holes in ridgepole and uprights. Throw the 
tent-cover over the poles and fasten the four cor- 
ners down firmly by pegs driven into the ground 

about three feet from 
the feet of the up- 
rights; one boy 
should hold one peg 
in the loop, another 
boy opposite to him 
stretching the tent 
tightly in driving. 

Drive four more 

pegs ; o n e i n t h e 

middle of each side of the square space — the one 

at the door is only used in bad weather or at night. 




44 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

At Other times the door-flaps are thrown back. If 
you have a fly (an extra tent-cloth over the ridge- 
pole), you will need to buy nine yards more, also 
to provide longer cords to reach the ground. A 
stout cord should be sewed as a welt all around 
the bottom of your tent. The loops for the eight 
pegs will be nine in number ; two of them at the 
door being fastened to one peg. 

When your tent is up for actual use, a ditch 
should be dug close to the tent to carry the rain- 
water off; in order to keep the interior sleeping 
ground dry. It is also best to pitch your tent with 
the back up hill on a slight incline ; the ditches in 
that case need be but three — at the back, and 
on the two sides ; these should extend, however, 
considerable distance beyond the front of the tent. 

In camping out each person ought to have an 
oilcloth and a blanket, as it is frequently necessary 
to sleep on the ground. When not pressed for 
time, elegant bedsteads may be made of saplings 
stretched upon a framework resting on four up- 
right forked stakes driven into the ground. These 
spring-beds must be put on the right and left sides 



How to MAKE AND PITCH A TENT. 



45 



as you enter your tent, leaving an aisle in the mid- 
dle. 

Each boy in the party ought to have a light 
hatchet, carried in a " frog " on a stout leather belt, 




with the edge to the front and covered with a 
leather casing, unless the wearer be a very careful 
fellow. Fig, /shows a shape I have always found 
very convenient. 



IV. — TREE CULTURE, 

I HAVE often thought that were I a country boy, 
and my father would let me use some of his 
land, I would have a small tree plantation of my own ; 
for I should like to have something growing which 
I might watch and train and study and take pride 
in. Often driving in the country, I see how a group of 
trees here, and a belt there, and a solitary one yonder, 
would add to the picturesqueness, to the actual 
money value and the productiveness of the farms. If 
my father would let me use the land, 1 would begin 
my tree culture at once. He would become 
interested in my trees, I think, by the time they 
were large enough to plant out, and I should 
have talked so much about the spots where they 
would look well and do good, that the whole family 

would make it an event, and come out to see the 

46 



TREE CULTURE. 47 

future groves and wind-breaks and shade trees set into 
their final places. 

I heartily commend this work to the country boys 
who read this. 

I doubt, to begin with, if you fully realize the 
importance of trees, though I daresay some practical 
farmer in the vicinity will tell you that a belt of trees 
at the north of his farm makes the season several 
days longer for him than his neighbor whose crop 
land is exposed to the cold northern blasts, and that 
it often happens that on farms protected by trees, 
melons and peaches are ripened, while upon the 
exposed farms they always fail ; and I can tell you of 
good books to read on the subject; but right here 
I will speak of one or two points. 

When you read in the papers every spring of the 
great freshets which sweep away houses, bridges, and 
all movable things, do you realize that this mischief 
is caused by the destruction of the old forests ? It is ; 
for the snow shaded by the trees used to melt slowly, 
and the earth, kept porous and free from frost, held, 
like a sponge, the melted snow and rains, and all 
through the season there was a steady supply of 



4^ WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

water in the brooks which fed the rivers ; but since 
the trees have been destroyed the ground has become 
hard, and often, too, the soil has been entirely 
washed away and the land itself made worthless. 
The rains and melting snows rush off these bare hills 
in torrents, and, joined by thousands of similar 
streams, fill these rivers to overflowing and cause 
these freshets. Besides, trees are the purifiers of the 
air we breathe ; and when we think of the uses to 
which the different kinds of wood are put, and our 
dependence upon the forests for the supply, we 
wonder that any one can be thoughtless enough to 
start the great forest fires which every year are 
destroying more timber in the United States than is 
used for all sorts of mechanical purposes together. 

To succeed with your trees, you should become inti- 
mate with nature and see how she manages. You should 
know how the tree lives and breathes. If you will 
take a plant that has grown for some time in a small 
flower-pot and carefully turn it out, you will see on 
the outside of the ball of earth many little whitish 
root-tips. Every tree has millions, perhaps, of just 
such little roots. They are the mouths through 



TREE CULTURE. 49 

which the tree drinks, and it is the loss of these 
which causes the tree to die when carelessly trans- 
planted ; for they are easily broken, and if exposed to 
the sun for even a few minutes, they will often 
become lifeless. If we may speak of the root-tips as 
mouths, we can call the leaves the lungs of the tree, 
for it is through them that the tree breathes in from 
the surrounding air the gases it needs. Thus you 
should reason that while the leaves and roots 
are in active operation it would be a great shock to 
the tree to attempt to transplant it. This must only 
be done when the tree, with its roots and leaves, is at 
rest. With our leaf-shedding trees, this time is after 
their leaves have fallen, between late autumn and 
early spring. 

You may think it will be an easy thing to go into 
the woods some day and dig up the trees you want to 
start your plantation ; but unless you take very small 
trees, scarcely more than a foot high, you will find 
that the roots are so long, and have wandered under 
so many stones, or are so interwoven with the roots 
of other trees, that it will be impossible to dig them 
out in good-enough order to hope of their living. 



so WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

For this reason trees from nurseries succeed better 
than those collected in the woods, because the roots 
of the wild trees have often gone far in search of 
water, while those in the nurseries, by cultivation and 
frequent transplanting, have been kept in a compact 
ball, and the tree can be dug up without injuring the 
root-tips at all. 

Rather than attempt much with the larger trees, 
then, I advise you to start your collection by means 
of a little nursery. In this you can plant such trees 
as you can collect in the woods and pastures, and 
the others that you may obtain if you follow my 
suggestions. You can begin with small beds. The 
soil should be prepared in the same manner as for a 
garden bed, light and loose. 

As soon as the frost is out of the ground you must 
start on your tree-collecting excursions, taking with 
3^ou a spade, a large open basket, and a cloth to , 
cover over the roots to prevent them from becoming 
dry. If you insist on collecting trees over two feet 
high, you will have to take the covered wagon, and 
one or two friends to assist. Be sure not to attempt 
too much for one day, for you not only have to 



TREE CULTURE. 5 I 

collect the trees, but to plant them after your return. 
It will be best to collect trees of nearly the same 
. size on any one trip, for then they can all receive the 
same treatment, and your nursery beds should be so 
arranged that trees collected at various times can be 
planted with other trees of the same kind and size. 

On your trips you ought to know what kinds you 
are collecting; and unless you are acquainted with 
the forest trees you will have to invite a companion 
who can point them out. You can tell the seedling 
trees you find, by noticing under or near what trees 
they are growing. The most young trees will be 
found where the older growth is scattering, and it 
will be useless to look for trees where cattle are 
allowed to roam, for they will surely have browsed 
them all off. Among those you will readily find are 
oaks, birches, maples, ashes, hickories, poplars, wal- 
nuts, the beach, chestnut, sumac, sassafras and 
basswood ; and at the South and West, the tulip tree, 
catalpa, liquid-amber, magnolias and hawthorns; 
and nearly everywhere the cedars, pines, hem- 
lock and spruces are common evergreens. It 
will be well to avoid trees which grow naturally in 



52 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

swamps, as they require more water than they obtain 
in cultivation. For New England the best native trees 
to plant are the white and red pines, the white ash, the 
white and overcup oaks, the walnut and butternut, the 
hemlock and white spruce; because, besides being 
fine trees, they will, if they become large and are cut, 
be of value for their timber ; for you know how scarce 
all timber trees are becoming. 

Having selected a place for your nursery not 
likely to become very dry in summer, and one that 
you can easily water should there be a drought, 
plant the young trees in straight rows about one 
foot apart in the beds, unless they are more than a 
foot high, when they should be two feet apart or even 
more. Use every care to prevent the roots from 
becoming dry, by sprinkling them, and by keeping a 
wet cloth over the pile while you are at work. You 
will of course dig the trees with great care to save as 
many of the rootlets as possible ; and the holes in 
which the trees are to be planted should be of ample 
size. Place a tree in one of the holes and spread 
out naturally all the little roots, and if there are any 
broken ones, carefully prune them off. Throw some 



TREE CULTURE. 53 

fine earth upon the roots and settle it among them. 
Next fill in the rest, and with both hands press it 
firmly down so that the tree is left about an inch 
lower in the ground than it was growing before. 

You can, if you like, raise trees from seeds. This 
is very interesting, as the manner in which the dif- 
ferent species germinate is curious and instructive. 
It will be an easy matter to get the seeds of such 
trees as hickories, maples, oaks, walnuts, and the 
beech, honey-locust, and elm ; and, too, many of the 
seedsmen throughout the country are now making a 
specialty of tree-seeds. Some seeds, however, require 
to be planted as soon as they ripen, or to be protect- 
ed in some manner, for after a short exposure they 
fail to germinate. Among such are the oaks, 
walnuts, hickories, magnolias and chestnuts. These 
should be planted in the fall, and if sent to any 
distance must be packed in rather damp earth or 
moss. Plant the tree-seeds in rows about an inch 
apart, and the second year transplant into another 
bed about one foot apart. 

But those of you who think the best way will be 
to buy trees already started, so as to gain a year's 



54 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

time, can easily order them of Robert Douglas & Co., 
of Waukegan, 111., who put up and forward to any 
address, postage paid, for one dollar, one hundred 
year-old trees. Their list contains many varieties to 
select from. You can form a club and buy 500 or 
1000 trees, and they will come in excellent order, and, 
divided among the club, each of you will have an 
assortment. 

While young all the cone-bearing trees require to 
be shaded during the hot summer months. The best 
shade is made by nailing laths, about two inches 
apart, to some long strips of wood, and arranging 
them on posts over the beds. A shade can be made 
of boughs stuck into the ground ; but this is neither 
neat nor permanent. 

If you succeed, you will before long have a nursery 
of perhaps 500 trees ready to transplant to perma- 
nent situations. If you have taken good care of them, 
you will have become interested in landscape garden- 
ing and have read many books and articles about it, 
and you will greatly enjoy a chance to display your taste 
in arranging your cherished trees in groups, and by 
planting out tlie walls and out-buildings. This will 



TREE CULTURE. 



55 



justly require a great deal of thought, as upon it 
depends entirely the result of beauty, shade and 
shelter, when, years later, you are perhaps the owner 
of the place yourself. 

It is impossible to give explicit directions for this 
work, as every plantation requires special treatment ; 
but in general you should avoid mixing too many 
sorts in groups, nor should trees of different habit 
be brought into too close contrast. 

At the final planting, be sure to give the trees a 
good start. It is not enough to dig holes and place 
the trees in them. If the region is gravelly and the 
soil poor, you must remove the earth from a space 
four feet or more in diameter and to a depth of two 
or three feet, and replace it with a mixture of muck, 
loam and manure. Let us suppose you planting a 
tree five feet high, that the earth has been properly 
prepared, and the hole, a large one, has been dug. 
You can do your planting alone, but there is no rea- 
son why your sister should not help you — in fact 
the girls can do a great deal at arboriculture, particu- 
larly about the beds of seedling trees. Take one of 
the trees from the carefully covered pile, and stand 



56 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

it erect in the hole. Having made sure that it is at 
the right depth, which should be a little lower than 
it was growing before, spread out the roots in the 
direction in which they naturally go and cover them 
with earth to the depth of a few inches, working it in 
among the roots. As you do this let your assistant 
move the tree up and down quickly several times to 
insure the earth penetrating all the spaces between 
the roots. Throw in more earth, and treading it down 
the tree will be held in position so that you may take 
a final look to be certain that it is exactly straight 
and fitly placed before the remainder is filled in. 
Level off the earth, leaving it a little higher than the 
ground around it, for the rains will settle it consid- 
erably. Every spring you should dig around the trees, 
and through the summer the weeds must be kept 
down. It will add materially to the health and the 
rapid growth of your trees if you manure them well 
every fall, and that throughout all their growth they 
are well mulched with any available material. 

I have only spoken of spring-planting ; but you 
may, if you like, plant trees in the fall as well, 
although the spring is the best time for most species. 



TREE CULTURE. 57 

There are, however, some trees that begin to grow so 
early in the spring that they must be transplanted in 
the fall. Among such are the larch and several trees 
which flower before the leaves are developed. If 
you fortunately have plenty of land at your disposal, 
it will be possible for you to establish a little abore- 
tum or museum of living trees, although it will require 
great care to prevent bad effects by too closely con- 
trasting very different sorts of trees. You would in 
this way be led to desire to study the trees botani- 
cally, and form a scientific knowledge of their various 
modes of growth and structure. Such a collection 
could be extended, even in New England, to contain 
some hundreds of trees. 

It is quite possible for you to make tree culture 
profitable by proving to your neighbors what valuable 
accessions trees are to the farms. You may thus be 
able to sell a great many of your trees, and also plant 
them out for the purchasers. I shall wait with inter- 
est to hear of your commencing work, and will 
answer any questions you may need to ask me. 



v. — A BOY'S MENAGERIE. 

A MENAGERIE ! '^ I hear in tones of dismay, 
from mammas in more than thirty States 
(besides several Territories). But, dear mothers 
of boys, this is a miniature affair ; the performers 
who risk their necks and "jar the house down," are 
not your precious sons, but wooden figures, or dolls ; 
the cages of wild animals are no roaring, noisy, 
living creatures, but harmless beasts of wood or — 
wait till I tell you all about it, first assuring you it is 
one of the most quiet, as it is the very most absorb- 
ing, amusements I ever knew; for where in this 
broad land is there a boy, or even a girl, who does 
not delight in a menagerie ? 

Now, you who have some money to spend, and 
you who have o.nly nimble fingers for capital, let me 
tell you how to make a " perfectly gorgeous " affair, 

complete from tent flag to the baby elephant. 
58 



A boy's menagerie. 59 

First, you must have a tent. The framework of 
this is an umbrella. You who have money may 
buy one of the large white ones used in warm 
weather to shield the drivers of trucks and wagons, 
the larger the better, provided you have plenty of 
room to spread it in. You without spare cash may 
beg of mamma an old one. This tent may be set 
up on an attic floor, or on an old table not too good 
to put nails into ; but the best way is to make a plat- 
form, which can be placed wherever you choose. 
An old boy by my side, who has had experience of 
boy's contrivances, suggests that the cheapest way 
to get the platform is to buy for a quarter, at any 
shoe store, a long shoe or boot box, the boards of 
which are exactly what you want. Make the plat- 
form by laying the long boards side by side till it 
is wide enough, nailing two strips across on the 
under side to hold them in place. On this you may 
build your tent and its ropes and belongings, and 
when you wish to use it, or display it to your friends, 
you can lift the whole thing and set it upon a table 
or a couple of carpenter's horses, in the parlor if 
you like. 



6o WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

To prepare your umbrella, saw off from the han- 
dle the ornamental part, which will bring the stick 
just about to the edge of the cover when closed. 
Get a piece of board not less than six inches in 
diameter, and bore a hole through the middle ex- 
actly the size of the handle, so that when you push 
it in it will be a snug fit, and will hold the umbrella 
upright. 

Now take off the cover, and cut a pattern of one 
of the pieces of which it is composed. By this pat- 
tern cut new covering out of unbleached muslin, 
► which you can buy for five or six cents a yard. The 
boy without money may cover with the strongest 
parts of old sheets. In cutting the cloth after your 
pattern you must leave half an inch each side for 
seams, and on the narrow edge of the piece let the 
cloth ipYoject/our inches, to be afterwards cut into 
scallops and hang, like a real tent. 

To sew the seams a sewing machine is best, be- 
cause strongest, but if you have no^machine, and 
no sister or mother able to do them for you, you 
must bravely attack them yourself. Take strong 
linen thread and run them together as well as you 



A BOY^S MENAGERIE. 



6l 



can. There is another way to make a cover, much 
easier but not quite so " ship-shape." Get un- 
bleached sheeting, which comes very wide, say two 
yards wide if your umbrella is a common size. 
Buy a piece as long as it is wide, and find the ex- 




FIG. I. — TENT. 



act middle by folding it twice, once each way. Now 
cut a small hole in the middle, and cut through one 
of these folds from this hole to the edge. Lay this 
over the frame, putting the hole over the top of the 
stick, and the open side at the back of the tent. 
It will be too wide, that is, the cloth will cover the 
umbrella and have enough left to lap over where it 



62 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

is cut apart. Do not sew up this place, but let one 
side lie flat over the other as it will ; then with the 
scissors cut off the edge all around, leaving four 
inches for scallops as before. The scallops look 
best bound with bright red dress braid, at a cost 
of five cents, but the binding may be omitted. 

Next saw off the ferule end of the umbrella frame, 
and bore a hole straight into the stick to hold a 
flag pole. If you have no flag you can buy one for 
a few cents ; but if you are a household of brothers 
and sisters, you will enjoy making a dainty flag. 
Having made your flag socket, put on the cover, 
and sew it to the ribs, as the original one was sewed. 
Just before sewing at the end slip over each rib a 
common brass curtain ring (costing two cents a 
dozen), to hook your side walls into. 

Now open the umbrella which has become the 
roof of a tent, and stand it up in its block. Meas- 
ure from the edge of the frame to the floor, and 
take a strip of the unbleached muslin an inch wider 
than this length, and long enough to go all around 
the outside edge of the umbrella, and three inches 
over. This ij for the side wall, and it looks pretty 



A boy's menagerie. 63 

bound with red braid, but it will answer with a sim- 
ple hem, to keep it from tearing easily. 

Look now at Fig, i and see how this tent wall is 
arranged. On the back side, that you cannot see, 
it is in one piece. From aXo b there is no wall, for 
the convenience of the operator who sits at that end 
of the tent. On the lines <r, d and ^, the wall is cut 
open its whole length, so that it may be turned back, 
and both sides should be hemmed. When the show 
is in operation the two sections of the side wall be- 
tween the letters c and e are turned up and laid 
upon the roof, giving the spectators, who sit in front 
of the table, a good view of the inside. From the 
corner b the side wall you see turns out to make 
the piece ^y*(held in place by a 6^-shaped wire), 
and is cut off slanting to make the wing/^. 

Now turn your umbrella upside down, lay the 
side wall where it is to go, and at every point where 
it passes a rib, sew a hook. Of course at <r, d and 
e you will want a hook on each piece. You can buy 
dress hooks in large sizes, or you can make them 
of wire. They are to hook into the rings you ar- 
ranged to hold up the wall. To keep the bottom 



64 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 



down you must drive a wire staple into your plat- 
form or table exactly under each rib, and sew a 
hook on the wall to match it. Five cents' worth of 
staples will be enough. 

The tent must have guy ropes to keep it steady, 
and make it look like a real tent. For these you 
may use common twine. From the centre post, just 
above the top of the tent, you want four strings, 
going out in straight lines (as you see in the cut), 
drawn snug and tied to staples which you have 
driven in proper places. From each point at the 
end of the umbrella ribs, you must tie another 
string, draw it out snugly, and tie to a staple, as 

you see in the picture. 
In Fig. I, in the upper 
corner you may see the 
method of fastening the 
FIG. 2. — CAGE. gyy ropes to the centre 

post. Four curtain rings are slipped on to a string 
which is tied tightly around the post, and into each 
ring a guy rope is fastened. The proper way to 
secure the lower end is also shown. In the cut 
this is a screw eye, but a staple will do as well. 




A boy's menagerie. 65 

Now for the inside. First, just within the walls 
must be a ring of animal cages all around, except- 
ing from ^ to ^ i^^g' i) which is left for the operator 
and the spectators. The cages are full of wild 
beasts, and the next thing is to get them — cages 
and beasts — which is not so hard as it seems. 
Beg of any friend who smokes, or buy at a ci- 
gar store, a number of empty cigar boxes of the 
ordinary size, enough to reach the whole length 
when set up end to end on their long edges. To 
turn the boxes into cages, first take off the covers, 
and wash off all paper, then paint the inside white, 
or line it with white paper pasted nicely in. Next 
get a paper of small gimp tacks, which have neat 
round heads, and drive in the edge top and bottom, 
three fourths of an inch apart, and exactly opposite 
each other (Fig, 2). Now take fine black cord, 
or coarse linen thread, and after fastening one end, 
weave it around the tacks, as you see in the figure, 
to make bars. 

Your cages ready, to fill them. The really best 
way is to draw and color the animals yourselves, 
and this, when drawing is so generally taught, you 



66 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

ought to be able to do. But if you cannot, then 
find an old toy book of animals, or else hunt through 
illustrated papers till you have a collection of pic- 
tures of the animals usually seen in a menagerie ; 
lion, tiger, panther, wolf, kangaroo, etc., etc., and 
monkeys of course. Cut them out roughly and paste 
each animal carefully on to common cardboard. 
Let them dry thoroughly under a weight, and then 
if they are not colored, paint them with water colors, 
as nearly like life as you can. A colored animal 
book, which no doubt you or some of your friends 
have, will help you in this. Let the paint dry, and 
then cut each animal out on its outlines, leaving the 
cardboard a half inch longer than each foot. You 
will have quite a natural looking set of beasts, and 
on turning back the extra length under the feet 
they will be able to stand up perfectly. Or you can 
buy the sets of animals now publishing, all colored 
to life, and made to stand up, but it is more fun to 
draw and color them, remember. Push each one 
between the bars into a cage, strew the floor with 
sand, and you will be surprised to see how much 
like life they look. 



A boy's menagerie. 



67 




For elephants and horses and camels if you like 
to go in the ring, there are two ways to provide. 
The boy with plenty of money, and time to look for 
them, may be able to buy the kind he wants, but a 
more satisfactory way always is to make them your- 
self. Find pictures of the animals you need, and 
make them 
exactly as 
described 

for the wild " " "^^^C^c 

beasts, ex- ^^^•3- the wheel. 

cepting that you need not provide extra length of 
feet for standing up, and that you must paint both 
sides instead of only one. 

Next in order is the arrangement by which you op- 
erate your performers. The animals that go round 
in the ring are all worked from above, slung from 
a wheel which is out of sight under the edge of the 
tent roof. 

This wheel, shown in Fig, 3, is easily made. 
First saw a round block five inches in diameter, 
and bore a hole through the middle large enough 
to slip easily over the handle {a^ Fig. 4), then make 



68 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

another like it only one inch smaller {d^ Fig. 4). 
Around the edge of the larger one, with an awl, 
make holes running into the block, and large 
enough to take in spokes made of the ribs of an old 
umbrella, or of strong wire. Fit the spokes tightly, 
wedging them if necessary, and then connect the 
outer edges of the spokes by a stout cord {Fig, 3). 
This must be strong and firm, or some day it will 
collapse, and a fine show come to ruin. 

When the large wheel is completed, saw out a 
small one, three inches in diameter, like h^ Fig, 4, 
and with a pocket knife cut a hollow or groove all 
around the edge, in which a string can run. Lay 
this small wheel over the big one, with the centre 
holes exactly together, and put two screws through 
both, as you see in h. Next slip the two wheels 
over the handle, up to the spring which holds the 
umbrella open; then put on, under them, the 
other block d, and push up close to the wheel, so 
as to support it, but not tight enough to make it 
work hard. Fasten this lower block in its place 
by boring a small hole through it (at k) and 
through the umbrella handle, exactly where you 



A boy's menagerie. 



69 



want it to stand. Now by slipping in a piece of 
wire, e^ you make a firm rest for your revolving 
wheel, and on pulling it out you can draw off your 
wheel, and close the umbrella, or, more poetically, 
" fold your tent." You will make the wheel move 
more easily by scattering powdered soapstone on 
the lower block, where the wheel rests, or by rub- 
bing it well with a carpenter's pencil. 

To this large wheel are fastened your horses, 
and whatever goes around in the ring, and to run 
it easily and nicely there is a simple arrangement, 
which you see in Fig, 3. (It may be turned with 
the hands, but not so well.) 
From the grooved wheel 
screwed to the hub of the 
big wheel runs a cord, through 
two small holes in the tent 
cover, and around another 
grooved wheel fastened to • ^^^' 4- — parts. 
the top of a starch box, which is nailed to the ta- 
ble. This wheel is turned by a crank, the parts of 
which are shown in Fig. 4; /^ is the grooved wheel, 
three inches in diameter, c is the rod coming up 




7o WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

through the box, on which it turns, and which you 
see is cut square at the top, / has a square hole 
at one end which fits over this rod, and a round 
one at the other end, which receives the handle g, 
by which it is turned. The figures on the dia- 
grams give the size in inches. Now you see 
when this is arranged, and a string drawn tightly 
around the two grooved wheels, you may run your 
wheel as fast as you like, from the outside. 

To attach the animals to the wheel, prepare a 
number of threads of fine black sewing silk, waxed, 
to make it stiff, in this way: Take small black 
pins, the finest and smallest you can get, and 
around each one just below the head, tie tightly 
a piece of the waxed silk, then bend the pin into 
a hook. When you have enough of them ready, 
take one of your horses, tie around his body two 
threads as near of his color as you have. 

Tie one just in front of his hind legs, leaving a 
little loop on top of his back where it is tied. Tie 
the other just behind his fore legs, and have 
another loop there. These loops are for the pin 
hooks to hook into to hold the horse and keep him 



A boy's menagerie. 71 

straight. All your ring animals must be prepared 
in the same way, and you should be careful to get 
them of only two heights, one for horses, and one 
for elephants. Now take your silk threads with 
hooks on, and tie them in pairs, to the cord which 
forms the rim of the wheel, having the hooks 
the same length from the wheel, and just high 
enough to keep the horses' feet from touching the 
floor, which you must find out by trying it. You 
can see these threads hanging to the wheel in Fig, 
3. Now if you wish to have ring processions of 
elephants, make a second set of threads, and tie 
them at a suitable height between the others. 
When using the shorter threads the longer ones 
may be kept out of sight by hooking the pins 
over the cord they are tied to. 

Do you see how this works ? The operator sits 
behind the entrance to the tent ; putting his hand 
in, he draws two lines with hooks on out towards 
him, hooks on a horse or camel, and pushes him 
into the ring; he then moves the wheel a few 
inches, takes another pair of hooks and hooks on 
a second animal, and so on. In this way he can 



72 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

regulate his performers as he likes, and clear the 
ring in the same way. His seat is so placed that 
the guests who are looking into the open tent will 
not be likely to see his hand. Some care is nec- 
essary in turning the wheel, not to begin too fast 
so as to throw the animals out of position. You 
will need to try it by yourself a little, to learn ex- 
actly how to manage it properly. 

For performers, I will tell you how to make one, 
and your own recollection of what you have seen 
will help you to more. 

A pair of acrobats working over a bar will be 
very attractive, and are not hard to make. Get 
some thin wood, such as is used in a scroll saw, 
cut from it the parts shown in Fig. 5, and make awl 
holes where represented. Make two pieces like a, 
four like /^, eight like ^, four like d. Take a body 
a^ lay an arm b on each side, and fasten by a 
string passed through all and knotted on both 
sides, leaving it loose so that it will work freely. 
Next the legs. First with a knife shave down two 
pieces marked r, so that the lower ends shall be 
one half as thick as the upper ones, lay one thin 




A boy's menagerie. 73 

end each side of a piece d^ and make a knee joint 

as above. Having two legs thus made, put one 

on each side of the 

body, and make the 

joint through all five 

pieces at once, i. e., 

two for each leg, 

and one for the 

body. Now paint ^i '^^'~ """^"'^"^ "^ ^ 

your figures as nice- ^ "' ^""°^^^'°'''''^^^"~'^'' ^ 

, . FIG. ^. — PARTS OF ACROBATS. 

ly as you can m gay ^ 

colors or stripes. The effect is very striking. 

Make the bar for them by cutting two pieces 
like g^ and one like h {Fig. 5). The lengths are 
marked in figures ; h is the bottom piece which 
must be nailed to the floor, and ^ the post at each 
end of it, / is the bar on which they vault, and it 
passes through the holes in all four hands, and 
into the hole in the top of the post on each side. 
To make them turn a somerset, a stiff wire is 
passed through each pair of arms at the little 
holes below the elbow, holding them apart, and 
another one an inch long (<?, Fig, 5), put through 



74 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 



the small holes in the bars, after the acrobats are 
in place. Each wire comes between the arms of 
one of the figures, and as the figure turns, the wire 
on the arm hits it, and the acrobat goes over the 

bar. Since you do 
not want both to 
turn over at once, 
you must put the 
wires in the bar 
turning opposite 
ways. 

The arrangement 
by which they are 
made to perform, by 
a crank on the out- 
side, is shown at 
Fig, 6, and being 
exactly like that 
which turns the big 
wheel needs no de- 




FIG. 6. — ACROBATS. 



scription. The only difference is, that the cord or 
band which passes over the grooved wheel, goes 
down to the floor and through two staples, so that 



A boy's menagerie. 75 

it may not be in the way of the ring performers. 
The wheel and crank outside are on the farther 
side of the starch box, and so not seen in the draw- 
ing. 

One thing more you may add to the tent with 
pretty effect, and that is lights. Get the Christ- 
mas-tree candlesticks with a wire attached, so that 
you can twist one around each rod of your um- 
brella tent, in a circle not far from the stick (for 
fear of fire). Have the largest and best candles, 
or they will not burn long enough. A tent thus 
lighted up is very attractive. 

To give an entertainment to your friends, you 
can arrange a programme something like this : 
First have a procession of animals around the ring, 
which you can make one long, apparently endless 
string, by putting on a new animal every time the 
turning wheel brings before your opening one which 
has been around once ; after this — when you have 
used up the animals which are not shut up — have 
your acrobats perform, with any other things of 
the kind you may have arranged ; then have a show- 
man, made of a small doll dressed very gayly with 



76 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

a Stick or wand in his hand, who shall be hooked 
on to the wheel (by a thread around his neck or 
waist) and go around slowly, pausing before each 
cage to describe and exhibit the animal therein, 
which he does by means of your voice disguised a 
little. He should tell something about each crea- 
ture, especially anything odd or curious in his man- 
ner of life. You will easily find interesting stories 
and facts about animals in books of natural history 
(especially Wood's, if you can get at that in some 
library). At the same time, while the showman is 
talking about the animal, a helper — boy or girl — 
concealed behind the table, should give imitations 
of the animal's usual noise, as if he didn't like to 
be stared at or talked about. For instance, for the 
lion the helper should " roar " (which I'm sure all 
you youngsters like to do) ; for the bear, a growl is 
appropriate ; for a tiger any cat noise, a purr if you 
can manage it, is very effective. If you have vis- 
ited real menageries, you will know the proper 
sounds, the chatter of monkeys, screams of parrots, 
hoarse barks of the sea lion and others. You can 
make this part of the entertainment very amusing, 



A boy's menagerie. 77 

and if you wish to invite your friends more than 
once, you can vary the remarks of the showman as 
much as you choose. 

Now, a few last words. Give yourself plenty 
of time to make the whole thing properly. Do not 
begin in haste, and expect to have it finished in a 
day or two. Take pains to follow directions care- 
fully. Practice operating your figures till you be- 
come expert, and you will be delighted with your 
success. When all is ready, and you are " well up " 
in your duties, invite half a dozen friends to see it. 
If you have a press you may print cards of invita- 
tion and the most showy bills you can manage. 
But I'm sure I needn't tell you how to enjoy it after 
you have made it. 

Let me say that everything described has been 
made and worked, and the drawings are from the 
articles themselves. No tools are needed except 
those found in every home, and no skill beyond 
that of an ordinary boy, fourteen years of age. 



VI.— HOW TO BUILD A SIMPLE BOAT. 

EVERY boy living near a pond or stream de- 
sires to own a boat, and if he cannot pro- 
cure one he will " knock together " a clumsy and 
tottlish raft on which he is sure to get his feet 
wet, if not a ducking. At any rate, he will have 
something that will float and bear him up as he 
paddles around the pond. In extreme cases, I 
have known of a dry-goods box made water-tight 
and used. 

Now I am going to aid these boys with such 
directions as will enable them themselves to build a 
cheap, simple and safe boat. I used to construct 
such, and often have I seen a line of boys going to 
the water bearing boats exactly like this one on 
their shoulders. 

No skill in carpentry is necessary ; any one able 

to use a saw and drive a nail can follow out these 
78 



HOW TO BUILD A SIMPLE BOAT. 



79 



directions with good results. But the cardinal vir- 
tue lies in its wonderful cheapness. Two and a 
half dollars will amply cover the outlay on boards, 
nails, paint and tar ; and it can be completed in 
two afternoons. I make no claim for beauty ; yet 







"Qms 



^jfiBOLS 



its "lines" are far ahead of most other flat-bot- 
tomed craft. 

Get an inch-thick pine board, ten feet long and 
eighteen inches (or two feet) wide, as free from 
knots as possible. It is better to have it planed 
on both sides, although this is not necessary ; but 
in case you plane but one side give the p/aned side 
to the water. Also get two half-inch boards of 
bass (or pine), ten inches wide and eleven feet 



8o WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

long. These latter are for the sides; and I prefer 
bass because it bends easily. 

On your bottom board, three feet from the end, 
draw the line B C, and from this the lines A B, A C 
{Fig, i). This will give you the curve of your bow, 
which you may immediately cut out, not forgetting 
to round off the corners at B and C so that the 
sides will bend nicely at these points. 

Next cut off the square corners at the stern on 
the lines D E, G F. This not only will make your 
boat move through the water more smoothly, but 
also will improve it in appearance. 

The bottom is now all ready for the stem piece 
and the stern board. The former should be of 
hard wood (ash or hickory), cut at the same angle 
as the bow, to which it must be securely fastened 
by long screws or nails and inclining as in Fig, 2. 
The stern board is of pine, an inch thick ; you 
will make it after the pattern shown in^^. i. This 
must be nailed to the end of the bottom board. 

Before proceeding to put on the sides, a brace 
is needed at the middle, which is made as follows : 
From an inch-thick pine board, cut out a piece 



HOW TO BUILD A SIMPLE BOAT. 8 1 

after the pattern oi fig, 3, making the line A B the 
width of the bottom, i.e. eighteen inches (or two 
feet). Any desired *^ spread " may be given to the 
boat by cutting the sides of this brace at a greater 
or less angle. This should be nailed to the bot- 
tom at a point a little 7iearer the stern than the 
bow. 

You are now ready to put on the sides, begin- 
ning at the brace and nailing thence to bow and 
stern. Four-penny nails will do, with now and then 
an eight-penny for greater strength. Especial care 
is needed to make a nice job at the bow, and to 
make as tight a joint as possible. 

The sides being firmly nailed on, the brace 
should then be cut away, down to the dotted line 
{Fig, 3). It will thus serve as a rib at that point, 
strengthening the sides. 

This finishes the wood-work. Now proceed to 
calk up the seams with old rags, after which give 
it a good coat of paint. I would advise the free 
use of tar about the bow (both inside and out), as 
this is a difficult place to make tight. 

Your boat is all completed save the paddle. 



52 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

Make this of pine, about four feet long, from the 
model vafig. 4. 

The craft may now be safely launched, the navi- 
gator sitting either directly on the bottom, or on a 
seat three inches high. 

Further, I would suggest that tin be put on the 
bow and two or three narrow strips on the bottom 
to preserve it from rubbing ; also that the seams 
should receive several heavy coats of paint. 

I trust that any boy following these directions 
will succeed in his endeavors, and enjoy his boat 
as much as " we boys " used to. 



VII. — SKATING. 




THE NEW AND THE OLD. 



WANT to talk a little about skating 
with the younger boys among my 
readers. And in order to do 
that to best advantage I shall 
imagine you beginners^ and be- 
gin with you at the beginning. 
To practise successfully any 
art one must understand thor- 
oughly its first rules and prin- 
ciples. As for skating being 
an art, it certainly is, or is 
fast becoming such. And I 
assume that every boy who 
skates hopes to be- 
come an artist in the 
exercise. 

In the first place, 
as to skates : Down 



■83 



84 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

in the toe of your stocking at Christmas, you 
found rolled up in a bit of paper one or two or five 
bright gold dollars ; and on the paper written, " To buy 
a pair of skates y I am glad Santa Claus was 
wise enough to send the money instead of the skates 
themselves. The old gentleman is rather old-fash- 
ioned in his notions sometimes, and he might have 
selected an old-fashioned pair. He is apt to think 
that the old wooden-soled, grooved-iron skate, with its 
runner curved up into a brass acorn in front, on 
which he used to dash up and down the mill-stream 
thirty or forty years ago, is after all the best thing a 
boy can have to-day. But the manufacture of skates 
has improved wonderfully during the last few years ; 
and of all things you want a modern skate. 

What sort of skate shall you buy, then ? You want 
a " Club '' skate, /.^., a skate made entirely of metal, 
with no wood about it. As for the different styles 
of Club skates, they are all excellent, and the boy 
who is possessed of any one of them would seem to 
have all that a skater may reasonably ask for. In 
making your selection, lightness combined with 
necessary strength, and a runner so curved that it 



SKATING, 85 

shall touch the ice only for a few inches of its length, 
are the qualities you should have in mind. Beyond 
that, your choice will be determined by the method 
of fastening the skate. That fastening is the best 
which can be most quickly and conveniently adjusted 
and at the same time secures the greatest firmness. 
The screw at the heel, although still somewhat used, 
has probably seen its day ; and with it, it seems to 
me, had best be discarded the whole system of strap- 
ping the skate to the foot. The best skate is now 
that which has a " clamp '' so adjustable by screw or 
otherwise as to take firmly hold of the sole of the 
boot. The " all-clamp " skate has a clamp both at 
heel and toe. And some all-clamp skates are so 
arranged that a single movement of a lever beneath 
the skate or behind it operates both clamps and 
securely locks the skate to the boot. Such are the 
"Acme'' skate and Barney & Berry's "Ice King." 
When, in place of the heel-clamp, a heel-plate with a 
" button " fitting into it is used, it requires the fixing 
of the plate itself in the boot-heel, and often a heel- 
strap is found necessary. 

For a first lesson, choose a piece of ice of mod- 



86 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

erate roughness. Take plenty of time to learn to 
stand well and safely on your skates and to get con- 
fidence. Your danger as to falling is not, remember, 
of falling to one side, but backward or forward. 
Learn to stand up straight. There is nothing so 
awkward as a skater who leans forward. Avoid, too, 
swinging the arms about. They should be carried 
easily, much as in walking. Keep the feet close to- 
gether, toes turned out, and the legs straight and firm. 
Having come to feel somewhat at home upon your 
skates, and being able, perhaps, to move about a 
little, you may begin at once upon the Plain Forward 
Movement. With the left foot firmly planted, the 
inner edge of its skate bearing a little on the ice, 
boldly throw out the right foot until the outer edge of 
its skate touches the ice. At the same time throw 
the right shoulder steadily forward and keep the body 
balanced upon the right leg as long as possible. 
Then throw out the left leg and shoulder in the same 
manner, and so continue. If you begin with these 
rules well in your head, it will save you much painful 
experimenting. Having learned to make progress 
in this manner with firmness and power, you will 



SKATING. 87 

have learned to skate. Any other movement, simple 
or complex, belongs to " Fancy Skating.*' But, first 
of all, this plain stroke must be thoroughly learned. 

The '* rolls " forward and backward are the basis 
of all fancy skating. The forward outside-edge 
roll is made as follows : The impetus is obtained as 
in plain skating ; but, as the stroke is made with the 
right foot, the left shoulder is brought forward, the 
right arm drawn back, and with the face looking to 
the right, the whole body is swung easily in the direc- 
tion of the stroke ; then the left foot is lifted from 
the ice, and, being brought forward, is set down a few 
inches in advance of the right. The same movement 
is then made to the left, the right skate having now 
its inner edge to the ice until ready to be lifted. The 
Dutch roll is performed in this same manner, save 
that, perhaps, the roll is not quite so broad, the 
movement being more nearly in a straight line. The 



FIG. I. 

marks left upon the ice are something as in the figure. 
The outer-edge roll leads very easily to the cross 



88 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

roll, each foot when off the ice being swung, in the 
latter, across the one on the ice and starting in its 
stroke from the crossed position. 

Having become proficient in the various rolls for- 
ward and backward, the skater is now prepared to 
attempt for himself the almost infinite number of 
figures and movements that make up the rest of fancy 
skating. Most of these will require long practice. 
They are, too, for the most part, almost impossible to 
be described upon paper. You will have to pick 
them out for yourself, getting what helps you may 
from those about you who have already acquired them. 

A favorite movement, and one easily mastered, is 
that which used to be familiarly known as "' Cutting 
the Derby." It is now spoken of as the " Left-over- 
Right,"or the "Right-over- Left," and consists in skat- 
ing in a circle by constantly putting the outside foot 
over forward and inside of its fellow. A few steps of 
this figure, thrown in now and then, first to one side 
and then to the other, makes a very graceful and 
easy variation of the plain forward roll. 

"Cutting the Crab" is another sirnple figure. 
While going forward one foot is suddenly thrown out. 




SKATING. 89 

turned and drawn heel foremost directly after the 
other ; and the greater part of a circle is then de- 
scribed, the two heels being brought close together 
and the toes turned straight outward. This is a neat 
way of coming to a stop if one has plenty of room. 

The " Figure of ^ Three " and the 
" Figure of Eight " have always been 
well known to skaters. The former 
begins at exactly the same point at 
which one would begin in writing the fig- 
ure, and is performed on one foot, the 

FIG. 2. 

first part on the outside edge forward, 
and the second on the inside edge backward. The 
Figure of Eight is a*combination of two circles. A very 

pretty "Rosette" is 
made by combining 
a number of Figure 
of Eights, as seen in 
the figure. In this 
Rosette, it will be 
observed, the first 
circle of the first 
Eight is gone over 




90 



WAYS TO DO THINGS. 



again and again, though the second one is constantly 
changed. 

Then there are all the other Arabic numerals 
to be made, and all the letters of the alphabet, 
if one be patient and skilful enough. And there 
is the "Scissors," and the "Grapevine Twist," and 
the "Virginia Fence," which leaves a mark upon the 




FIG. 4. 



ice that describes itself, and the " Locomotive,'* 
single and double, so called doubtless because the 
sound of its strokes somewhat resembles the puffings 
of an engine, and whose track is something as here 
seen; and there is the "On to Richmond" (cross 

— / — / — / — / — / 



—I— I— I— I— I— I 



FIG. 5. 



one foot in front of the other, and with back stroke 



SKATING. 91 

outside edge go backward or forward) ; and ever so 
many others. 

You should see a programme for a skating contest 
asset forth by the American Skating Congress. I can 
assure you that the skaters who carry off the prizes 
from such contests must indeed be artists. And if 
you could only get hold of one of these Prize Skaters, 
and he would go to the pond with you, he could 
teach you more of Fancy Skating in half an hour 
upon the ice than I could do upon paper in half a 
year. 

One of the pleasantest things about skating is that 
the girls can enjoy it as well as, and together with, 
the boys. And this may very well be an additional 
reason why boys should wish to learn to skate well. 
A boy would hardly be a real boy at all who was 
indifferent to the admiration of his young-lady friends, 
and who would not wish now and then to display a 
few extra flourishes and figures if the latter were on 
the pond to see. Besides, the girls, some of them, 
are getting to skate exceedingly well; and no real 
boy, again, would like to be excelled by them at a 
sport in which his superior strength and experience 



92 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

at out-of-door games ought to give him a decided ad- 
vantage. 

One may have a partner in skating as well as 
dancing ; and having requested the pleasure of skat- 
ing with a young lady, you two together may execute 
a great variety of double figures and movements. 
There is the plain forward movement, of course, you 
holding the lady's hand, or perhaps with the hands 
crossed. And you may skate thus, holding a straw 
between you, each striving to skate so steadily and 
smoothly that the straw shall not be bent or broken. 
And you may skate face to face, one backward and 
the other forward. And you may waltz, or make the 
Figure of Eight together ; or, as you skate forward 
side by side, with the right hand you may, at one 
stroke, swing the lady before you to the right, 
and then, changing hands, swing her to the left 
again as you strike out in the other direction. And 
then two couples, skating in one line, may combine 
this last exercise, and thus the sport be made as 
social as an in-door entertainment. 



VIII. — HOME-MADE SNOW-SHOES. 

THESE snow-shoes are wholly of my own con- 
trivance. I use them every winter, and I 
think other boys will like them. To be sure they 
are not " stylish " and a fellow might not like to 
visit the Montreal Carnival with them, but you can 
have great fun on them in the country, walking 
around over the snowdrifts in the fields. I have 
walked on mine over drifts of freshly-fallen snow 
ten feet high without sinking in more than five 
inches. 

Then, too, they cost " next to nothing.'' The 
materials I used can be found on almost any prem- 
ises. They were as follows : 

(i.) Five or six barrel staves (without knots, if 
possible). 

(2.) Six strips of leather, quarter of an inch 
wide and about three feet long. 
93 



94 WAYS TO DO THINGS. 

(3.) A piece of strap about eighteen inches long. 

(4.) Twenty seven-eighths-inch screws, and 
some shingle nails. 

Don't be scornful of this "lay-out." These 
snow-shoes are for fun, not show. 

DIRECTIONS. 

Select four barrel staves about two inches in 
width. Plain the edges down until they are even, 
and the staves of the same width. 

Then take two of these prepared staves and 
plane and round off the ends as in Fig. i, so that 
when placed together they will appear as in Fig. 2. 
Leave the remaining two for the other shoe. 

Now take another stave and saw it lengthwise 
into two strips ; one about an inch and a half wide, 
the other about half an inch wide. From the 
wider strip cut four pieces six inches long ; from 
the narrower one cut two pieces the same length. 
Lay aside two of the wide and one of the narrow, 
for " the other shoe." 

Now to put the shoe together : Take two of the 
planed and rounded staves and lay them side by 



HOME-MADE SNOW-SHOES. 



95 



side, convex side down of course, with about two 
inches space between as in Fig, 3. Lay two of 
your wide six-inch pieces on these staves, one at 
each end where the outer edges begin to curve, as 
at Ay Fig. 3. Fasten lightly with shingle-nails. 



nci.i. 



X 



/^/a - j2- 



d 



-F^-^ 




WrJa^ 



Then observe if the frame thus made looks even ; 
if It does, fasten down the cross-pieces firmly with 
two screws in each end. 

Next, with a three-sixteenth-inch bit, you bore 
eight holes in each stave along its centre edge, as 



96 WAYS TO DO THINGS, 

shown at B^ Fig, 3. These holes are for the *^ lac- 
ings," D, Now, tie two of your strips of leather 
together and, beginning at one'end of your frame, 
run the ends of the leather-strips through the lac- 
ing holes, and lace it up, criss-cross, as you would 
a shoe, fastening the leathers when you come to 
the other end. 

Now place your foot on the frame, toe toward 
the blunt end, so that your heel will come a little 
back of the centre. Mark this place, and fasten 
one of your narrow six-inch strips across at that 
point, with two screws, C.Fig, 3. This strip is for 
your heel to rest upon. 

Now cut that eighteen-inch strap into two pieces. 

Next, three and one half inches from C, toward 
the front of course, cut a hole at E, through each 
of the staves large enough to let the strap through ; 
this you fasten on the under side by running a nail 
through each end of the strap, as in Fig, 4. Pass 
the ends of one of your thin strips of leather, Fy 
up through these strap-holes. 

Now your snow-shoe is done. You will make the 
other in the same way. 



HOME-MADE SNOW-SHOES. 97 

To fasten the snow-shoe on, you slip your foot 
through the loop formed by the strap ; after this 
cross the ends of the leather strips over your in- 
step, and then fasten them at the back of the 
ankle. 



There is nothing more refreshing to pick up in 
odd minutes than a bright collection out of the 
poetry of all time of the brightest on almost no 
matter what subject, even the weather. 

Through the Year with the Poets, edited by Oscar Fay 
Adams. A volume a month of about 140 pages each, with 
ample indices. 16mo, cloth, 75 cents each; parti-colorcd cloth, 
$1.00. 

And dainty book-making has much to do with 
the pleasure of scrappy reading. 



New Every Morning, a year-book for girls, by 
Annie H. Ryder, is a helpful thought or two, out of 
current writers mainly, for every day in the year ; 
not religious, but chosen for serious aptitude to 
the state of things in the world we live in. 196 
pages. Square 16mo, cloth. #1.00. 



Notable Prayers of Christian History. By Hez- 
ekiah Butterworth. So far as we know, there is 
no other book in which are gathered the notable 
prayers of devout men of all times with their 
biographical and historical connections. 304 pages. 
16mo, cloth, 1.00. 



Let not the bookseller venture a word on so ab- 
struse a subject as Browning. 

Christmas Eve and Easter Day, and Other Poems. By 
Robert Browning. Introduction by W. J. Rolfe. The Theory 
of Robert Browning concerning Personal Immortality by 
HeloiseEdwinaHersey. With notes. 175 pages. 16mo, cloth, 
75 cents. 

For Browning Classes and Clubs. The text is 
in very generous type. 



Faith and Action is an F. D. Maurice Anthology. 
Preface by Phillips Brooks. The subjects are : 
Life, Men, Reforms, Books, Art, Duty, Aspira- 
tion, Faith. 269 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.00. 



A pleasant small edition of Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
Progress (410 pages), is in the Golden Treasury 
series, uniform with 

Thomas a Keinpis's Imitation of Christ (285 pages) 
Baxter's Saints' Rest (288 pages) 

Tholuck's Hours of Devotion (316 pages) and Macduff's 
Mind and Words of Jesus (316 pages;. 

The bindings are neat and perfectly plain, gilt 
titles and tops. Each 16mo, cloth, $1.00. 



The author of Possibilities has written another 
story for boys of how a little six-year-old waif of 
the street grew into a good and prosperous man. 

Only Me. By Rev. Thomas L. Baily. 296 pages. 12mo, 
cloth, $1.25. 

The story is easy enough all through to catch 
and lieep the wandering thoughts of the boys for 
whom it is written. They are not experienced 
readers. They skip whole books if written over 
their head, or under. 



The man who wrote **Ten Acres Enough" 
ought to know how to keep country boys in the 
country where, as a rule, they are worth the most 
and will fare the best. He writes a story for 
them. 

Farming for Boys. By the author of Ten Acres Enou';^i. 
286 pages; illustrated. 12mo, cloth, $1.25. 

A handy little old man in the story sets out to 
show the boys how to make it interesting. Things 
are rather dull at first; but he understands boy 
nature as well as farming; and, under the guise 
of keeping them busy, he teaches them dozens of 
things that farmers ought to know, but generally 
don't. Right here is the use of the book. It is 
a legular treatise on farming. They actually get 
to talking of wealth before they are done with it. 



How to Cook Well is promising title. The au- 
thor, J. Rosalie Benton. We light on this sen- 
tence on breakfast : "Yet in how many families 
is it the custom to send the master of the house 
to his daily round of business with an unsatisfied 
feeling after partaking of a hurried meal alto- 
gether unpalatable ! " That is still more promise 
ing. There are 400 pages of performance. 12mo 
cloth, $1.50. 



One of the ways to get some notions of things 
into young folks' heads without any work on their 
part is to tell them stories and weave in the 
knowledge. 

Another way is to make a book of such stories. 
The book has the advantage of the story-teller. 
It can be full of pictures ; and one can be more 
careful in making a book than in talking. If his 
memory slips a little, he can stop and hunt up the 
facts. 

Story Book of Science. By Lydia Hoyt Farmer. Illus- 
trated. 330 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 

There are twenty different stories and seventy- 
five pictures. A surprising number of bits of 
knowledge are woven and pictured in ; and the 
book is as light and easy as if it were nonsense. 

There's so much to know nowadays. Children 
have to begin before they know it. 



Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical 
Poems in the English Language, by Francis Tur- 
ner Palgrave, differs from other collections in the 
attempt to include in it all the best, and none be- 
side the best, by writers not living when the col- 
lection was begun. As the distinguished Editor 
rightly says in his preface, it would obviously 
have been invidious to apply this standard to the 
living. 405 pages, including notes and indices. 
16mo, cloth, $1.00. 



In 1833 the wife of Horace Mann spent the 
whiter in Cuba under chxumstances extremely 
favorable to an intimate knowledge of life there ; 
but was under a double restraint from making a 
book, a close and sympathetic friendship and nu- 
merous hospitalities. 

Nevertheless tlie book was written, but kept for 

fifty years till the death of the last of her friends 

who figured in it. 

Juanita, a Romance of Real Life in Cuba Fifty Years Ago. 
By Maiy Mann (wife of Horace Mann, sister o^ Mrs. Haw- 
tliorne and of the venerable Elizabetli Peal)ody' 436 pages. 
12mo, cloth, $1.50. 

It is less a romance than a fragment of history ; 
less a history than an impassioned picture of hu- 
man life above and below incredible greed and 
cruelty ; less a picture than protest. And, coming 
at this late day when freedom has blessed both 
slave and master, it gives a new zest to liberty. 
It draws the reader from page to page not so 
much by the arts and resources of fiction as by an 
overmastering sympathy. 

It is not another Uncle Tom's Cabin; and the 
times are kindlier. But the book must be read. 



A writer who keeps his name to himself had 
been telling his children what heraldry had to do 
with our stars and stripes, with the seals of the 
United States, and of the States themselves. " It 
occurred to him" — what are we not indebted to 
children for? — "that heraldry, brilliant with mem- 
ories of tournaments and hard-won victories, 
might interest " other youngsters. Hence a play- 
ful book of careful enough research into heraldic 
history, legends, usages, meanings, proprieties. 

Dame Heraldry 117 illustrati ^ns, 271 pages. 8vo, cloth, 
$2.50. 

There is no harm in knov/ing these things De- 
tween times, especially when the knowledge 
comes in the guise of entertainment. 



The praise of a book of travel k rightly held to 
be "It is next to the journey itself." 

Some Things Abroad. By Rev. Alexander McKenzie, 
D. D. 450 pages. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. 

You sit by your evening lamp and read, as if 
from the letters of a friend, the record of his 
daily experiences. He sees the north and south 
of Europe, via Constantinople into Asia, the Holy 
Land, etc. 

As in the case of friendly letters, your enjoy- 
ment in reading depends on the w^riter's geniality 
quite as much as on the news he has to tell of his 
wanderings. What could be more agreeable than 
to be taken thus to the far-off haunts of seekers 
after knowledge and pleasure without the toilsome 
goings and waitings and coming back at the end 
of it all. You Imve the shade of your own home 
trees in the hot afternoon and delicious sleep in 
your own home bed and the sound of your break- 
fast bell in the morning; nevertheless you have 
seen Some Things Abroad and talked them over 
delightfully. You probably know quite as much 
about them as many who bear the tossings and 
dust and tossings again of a journey a quarter 
round the world. For our part we ask no better 
company. Dr. McKenzie tells it off so gayly, we 
can hardly believe ii* the hardships of seeing. 

The book has the air of talking over the day in 
the cool of the evening, only two or three of us 
there. 



Garland from the Poets, selection of short 
miscellaneous poems by Coventry Patmore, with 
not a word of comment or explanation beyond the 
poets' names. 250 pages, 128 poems. 16mo, cloth, 
76 cents. 



Can you imagine a more welcome visitor than a 
(iivilized Cliinaman witli the recollections of tbe 
flowery land still fresh, but seeing with our eyes 
and estimating by our weights and measures, and 
gifted with a tolerable English tongue? 

When I was a Boy in China. By Yan Phou Lee. 112 pages 
16mo. cloth, 60 cents. 

The author, grandson of a mandarin, son of a 
merchant, born in '61, went to the Government 
School at Shanghai, and in '73 was chosen one of 
the thirty sent to the United States t ^ be educa- 
ted. 

He writes on : Infancy ; House and Household ; 
Cookery ; Games and Pastimes ; Girls of My Ac- 
quaintance; School and School-life; Religions; 
Holidays ; Stories and Story-tellers (gives a speci- 
men story) ; How I Went to Shanghai ; How I 
Prepared for America ; First Experiences. 

The narrative is personal. Jumps right into 
it. Tells of himself as a baby, of course from 
knowledge of what happens to boy babies there. 
Illustrates Lowell's commendation of President 
Lincoln's English — *' strikes but once and so well 
that he needn't strike but once." An easy writer, 
graceful enough, but quick and done with it ; full 
of his subject, and yet not over-fond; impatient 
lest his reader tire. He need not hurry. We are 
eager listeners, not at all critical. 

An American boy of twelve beginning life in the 
heart of China and writing a book at twenty-six 
' ' When I was a Boy in America " would indeed be 
a remarkable man to write so well ! 

May Yan Phou Lee have a million readers I 



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